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Here's a quick and dirty refresher: the Bulls traded the No. 28 and No. 30 picks in 2011 NBA Draft to jump up to pick No. 23 and grab Mirotic. The Spanish forward's big body and sweet outside stroke made him a first round draft pick, but it's what he's done since that's made some wonder if he could be a future NBA All-Star.

Young players are an abnormality in the Euroleague, but Mirotic has proven himself to a force whenever he's on the court. He's the first ever two-time winner of the "Rising Star" award, given to the best player age 22 and under. While he was impressive in 2010-2011, his numbers shot through the roof across the board last season. He's off to a great start this year, a campaign highlighted by a 17-point, eight-rebound effort on 7-of-7 shooting against Russian team BC Khimki Moscow Region. He followed that up by dropping 18 and six (on 5-of-9 shooting, including 2-of-4 from three-point range) the next game against Fenerbahce Ulker Istanbul.

Mirotic has the people who watch Euroleague hoops incredibly excited about his NBA prospects. Nick Gibson took to Sheridan Hoops this week to again sing his praises in a piece framed around a (very flimsy) proposed deal to bring Pau Gasol to Chicago. It was a weird framework to bring to the story because the Bulls are not trading for Gasol this season, you can bet on that, but Gibson's point remains: Mirotic is too valuable a commodity to deal even if that trade was on the table. OK, then.

More enlightening was an October piece Gibson linked to by Simon Jatsch at In the Game. Jatsch did an analytical examination of Mirotic's evolution and came away giving him rave reviews: the numbers show Mirotic has made major strides as a rebounder, and he's also showing a propensity to get to the foul line more often. These are monumental improvements as far as his NBA future is concerned. Bulls fans are rightfully starting to get excited.

Well, don't get too excited. Mirotic isn't dumb, and won't come over to the NBA until it makes sense for him financially. The Bulls and their fans would love to add the 21-year old to the mix in 2013-2014, but it seems more likely he won't arrive until 2014-2015. Mirotic has a contract that includes a buyout of roughly $2 million euros and he also doesn't want to be subject to the NBA's rookie scale. Since teams can only contribute a certain percentage of the buyout, Mirotic wants a higher salary to help pay-off whatever financial obligation is left. Gibson said Mirotic is "worth every penny" of Chicago's mid-level exception and that's likely what it will come down to.

The question now becomes: how willing should be the Bulls be to bank on Mirotic's potential? It's a dicey proposition to hope the 21-year old turns into a legit No. 2 option on a championship contender right away, and the Bulls are already in position to compete assuming Rose returns to full-strength. Which is to say: Mirotic should be viewed as an asset, not a lottery ticket.

Gasol and Dirk Nowitzki are the obvious examples of Euro players turning into superstars, but each has been in the NBA for over a decade at this point. The guys that have came after them haven't been as impressive. Andrea Bargnani has been highly underwhelming as the former No. 1 overall pick of the Raptors. Danilo Gallinari is good, not great, and isn't anywhere near the shooter he was purported to be. Jonas Valančiūnas is a true center that has shown promise this year in his first season with Toronto, and there are a handful of other players around the league who have turned into dependable rotation players. But there's no stars.

Mirotic looks very impressive, but it's in the best interest of Euroleague hype machine to build stars out of their own players. They want Mirotic to be the next Dirk, to be the next Pau, and perhaps he is. The Bulls shouldn't be banking on it too heavily, though. Given his size and scouting report, the player Mirotic reminds of the most could be Toni Kukoc. Chicago waited a long time for Kukoc's arrival and he eventually turned into a key cog on in the franchise's second three-peat. Could MJ have won all of those titles with Kukoc as the team's second best player, though?

Rose is no Jordan and the Bulls would be thrilled if Mirotic turns out as good as Kukoc, let alone Dirk. The Bulls have an intriguing prospect on hand and deserve to be lauded for aggressively targeting him in the draft. Now the real question becomes this: how will Chicago shape the roster moving forward with Mirotic making serious strides?

Had a chance to read it. Mirotic is really starting to make noises across the ocean, and increasing his value. I really think he will continue to improve, especially physically. That's good for us. We either keep him, or trade him for a star like Love.

Had a chance to read it. Mirotic is really starting to make noises across the ocean, and increasing his value. I really think he will continue to improve, especially physically. That's good for us. We either keep him, or trade him for a star like Love.

lol dude. It seems like all of your posts have something to do with Love that I see.

Looks like they would be easy to make if you run a simple parse/dump from baksetball-reference, add in a percentile calculation, and some spiffy graphics. Would take at the most a couple of days to throw together in a database.

The best thing about the chart is the use of Per28 instead of Per36. Per36 is solid for taking a look at some long term potential, but I think Per28 is a much more reasonable number to look at in general.